Celtic rockers Dropkick Murphys perform at Electric Factory

This is a busy time for the Massachusetts-based American Celtic rock band Dropkick Murphys. The group has just released its eighth album -- “Signed and Sealed in Blood” -- and St. Patrick’s Day is just around the corner.

Dropkick Murphy’s fans know that St. Patty’s Day is to the band what Memorial Day is to beach-loving sun seekers. Not surprisingly, the band is out on the road -- playing dates all over America as part of its “2013 St. Patty’s Day Tour.” The tour will touch down in Philadelphia for shows at the Electric Factory on March 8 and 9.

“The new album has been out since Jan. 8,” said Kelly, during a phone interview. “It hit number 9 on the Billboard charts. It was a surprise because the record-buying public is so fickle. We were very pleased -- obviously. Our fans and supporters are very loyal. They all scooped it up right away.”

The band’s fans are not only loyal, they are very patient.

“The time between making our last two records was four years -- ‘The Meanest of Times’ in 2007 and ‘Going Out in Style’ in 2011,” said Kelly. “That was quite a wait. After we finished making the ‘Going Out in Style’ album, we had a lot of ideas that we hadn’t explored yet.

“We kept writing. We really loved the new stuff we were coming up with and we just kept going. The turnaround was one year instead of four. It was the whole ‘strike while the iron is hot’ situation.

“The ‘Going Out in Style’ LP was a concept album. Partway through, we saw a common thread. It was a time-and-place kind of thing. For ‘Signed and Sealed in Blood’, we wrote a bunch of songs -- a lot of straight-forward songs. And, we can play every one of them live.

“We’ve always been open to try new thing musically. This time, the songs came --boom. They were all written in the last year. At the start of the writing process, we had some ideas that ended up in the scrap heap. But, they primed the pump. After that, the songs just started coming.”

The band, which formed in 1996 in Quincy, Massachusetts, is now moving into the second half of its second decade.

“It’s mind-boggling,” said Kelly. “I can’t believe I’ve been in the band for 16 years. We have people in the audience who are only 16 years old. Fortunately, we see younger audience members all the time. Our fans bring their kids and that’s great.”